Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (10 page)

They finally reached the back room.
Liam hurried to Annabelle’s side, wrapping her in his arms.
Everyone was awake and on their feet, staring up at the ceiling as
another thumping crash shook the building. “Do they know we’re here
Chris?” Cassie asked softly.

He shook his head, his eyes dark and
troubled, his face pinched in concentration. “There’s no reason to
them,” he whispered. “There’s nothing but confusion and hunger and
destruction. I cannot tell what they do and do not know, or what
they want, other than blood.”

A shiver worked through her at his
words, her mouth parted slightly as she glanced wildly around the
room. She wanted to bolt out of there, yet she remained frozen, her
legs unwilling to move. Julian emerged from the shadows, four
crossbows tucked under his arm. Cassie reluctantly pulled away from
Devon as he handed each of them one and tossed the other to
Liam.

“Do not hesitate,” Julian hissed to
her.

She frowned fiercely back at him. “I
won’t.” He raised an eyebrow questioningly at her, his eyes pointed
and harsh. Cassie swallowed heavily. “I won’t.”

He nodded briskly before turning away,
moving to stand by the doorway to the main room. Devon squeezed her
arm gently before taking a stance opposite Julian. Another loud
thud rattled the building. Cassie glanced sharply up as one of the
things began to jump up and down on the roof, its loud squeals
echoed throughout the building. Cassie winced against the harsh
sound, wishing she could cover her ears against the strange
animalistic noises, but the crossbow stopped her from doing
so.

Another loud thump rattled the windows.
There were four of them on the roof now, with no way of knowing how
many more might come. Straightening her shoulders, Cassie held the
crossbow tightly with both hands as she moved toward the back
windows. She heard Devon’s soft hiss of displeasure, but she did
not stop.

Pausing at one of the windows, she
slowly pulled back the curtain. The night beyond was dark, but it
took only moments for her eyes to adjust. She could see nothing in
the back yard, nothing moved amongst the mangled corpses of
animals. A shadow suddenly jumped from overhead and another bang
echoed throughout. Though it had startled her, Cassie did not move,
did not even flinch. To do so very well might have meant the death
of all of them.

Ever so slowly she dropped the curtain
and backed away from the window. She crept to the middle of the
room. “They’re coming from the roof of the bank,” she whispered,
pointing toward the building next to theirs.

Devon and Julian turned toward the
bank, staring at the wall as if they could magically see through
it. They stood silently for a long time, tense in anticipation as
they waited to see what would happen. The noises and thumps
continued, the grunts and squeals grew louder and more frantic
before dying down. Two more thumps hit the roof, causing everyone
to flinch in anticipatory response.

After about an hour the shouts died
down, and the noises drifted away. Cassie slowly began to relax,
her shoulders eased but the muscles in them remained stiff and
aching. She unfolded her hands from their tight grip on the
crossbow, stretching them out in an attempt to get the cramps out
of them.

She gave Chris a grateful smile as he
took the bow from her. Devon propped his crossbow against the wall,
his attention still focused upon the ceiling. “Where did they go?”
Melissa asked softly.

“They’re hunting,” Julian answered,
propping his crossbow on his shoulder. “And the food supply is
getting scarce, so they’re going back through the areas where they
have found food before.”

“Why didn’t they come in here?” Cassie
asked quietly.

“Because they’ve never come in here;
the place is in too good of shape for that to have happened. Next
time they come back, they’ll come in. They’ll start to tear this
town apart before they spread out of it,” Devon
answered.

Cassie inhaled sharply, Chris slid his
hand into hers, squeezing it tightly. Relief washed through her as
she clung to him, Chris had been distant ever since they had found
her. But now, for the first time, she actually felt as if she had
her friend back. He smiled wanly down at her, his hand briefly
tightened around hers as he turned back to Julian and Devon. Julian
was watching them intently, an odd express on his face.

He turned slowly toward Devon, his
shoulders tight as if he were prepared for battle. But if he was
expecting one from Devon, he would not get it. Not when it came to
Chris anyway, Devon understood and accepted their tight bond. In
fact, he had become exceptionally close to Chris before Cassie had
been taken, she didn’t know what their friendship was like now, but
she suspected that it had not changed much. Julian looked confused,
dazed as his attention focused on her again. She offered him a wan
smile, wishing that she could give him more, but knowing that this
was all stuff he would have to figure out on his own.

“Why haven’t they spread out yet, if
their food supply is low?” Chris inquired.

“Because, no matter what they are now,
this town is still their home. They may not remember what they had
here, or maybe they do, but this place is still safe to them,
reassuring on some level,” Devon answered.

Cassie swallowed heavily; pity for the
creatures swarmed her. She fought it rapidly back, she couldn’t
have pity here. They would attack her, and if she hesitated because
she sympathized with them, they would kill her. No there could be
no pity here, there could be no thought about what the creatures
had once been. Because they were no longer those people.

“We can’t let them out of this town,”
Luther said fiercely.

“No, we can’t.”

“We need to get out of here,” Melissa
whispered.

“And go where? We can’t leave this town
until all of those things are dead. If they get out of this town
all hell is going to break lose, they’ll destroy anything they come
in contact with. We need to formulate a plan, we need to draw them
out, and we need more weapons,” Devon told her.

“We also need to fortify this place,”
Julian said. “Get some boards on these windows. I don’t think those
things have enough reason left in them to realize that the windows
will be boarded up when they come back. And we need weapons, and
blood.” He looked pointedly at Devon before glancing sharply at
Cassie. “Unless you want to keep draining her.”

Devon’s eyes narrowed, his hands
fisted, a muscle jumped in his cheek as he grit his teeth tightly
together. “Watch it,” he growled.

Julian’s face remained impassive, his
arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the doorway. “Ok,
so we need to figure out how to get those things,” Cassie said
quickly, hating the tension between them.

“Yeah, because that’s an easy list,”
Chris retorted.

“Not helping,” she hissed at
him.

He shot her a rueful look as he
shrugged his shoulders. His shaggy blond hair fell into one of his
bright sapphire eyes. “I know where we can find weapons and blood,”
Dani said softly, her voice oddly choked.

Cassie turned toward her. She was
standing off to the side, a haunted look in her eyes as she stared
at them. “Where?” Luther demanded.

Dani licked her lips as she nervously
began to ring her hands again. “In the compound. There is plenty of
blood, and a room full of weapons. ”

Cassie inhaled sharply, feeling as if
she had just been kicked in the gut. There was a moment of stunned
silence before Julian cursed loudly, spun on his heel, and
disappeared into the dark store. Cassie stared after him, knowing
exactly how he felt. She knew all he wanted to do was destroy
something, but unfortunately, they couldn’t make any noise with
those things around. The last thing that either one of them wanted
was to go back into that hell hole.

But it seemed they weren’t going to
have a choice in the matter. Chris squeezed her hand gently,
holding tight to her as her skin began to crawl.

CHAPTER 6

“You don’t have to do this.”

Cassie glanced up at Chris, shaking her
head slightly as she stared at the ominous school. Her stomach
cramped tightly at the mere thought of entering it. Shifting, she
tossed the crossbow higher up on her shoulder, clinging to the
strap. “I’m not letting you guys go in there alone,” she
whispered.

“We’re not alone.”

She glanced over at Devon and Julian;
their heads were bent close together as they talked softly. At
least they were being cooperative, and getting along with each
other about going in there. Devon had done everything short of
tying her up to keep her from coming with them, but she was here,
and she had no intention of leaving. Dani stood slightly off to the
side, her arms wrapped around her to ward off the chill. Though
this had been Dani’s idea, she had not wanted to go back into the
school. However, she was the only one that knew where the weapons
and blood were, the only one that knew her way around the
compound.

“Cassie,” Chris said softly.

She glanced sharply up at him, shaking
her head firmly. “It’s too late anyway, I’m already here and I’m
not going back alone.”

“One of us can take you
back.”

“No, I’m going in there with
you.”

He sighed loudly, shaking his head at
her. “Fine.”

Devon and Julian stopped conferring;
their attention came back to the rest of them. “Ok, Julian is going
to take the lead with Dani behind him, then Chris, Cassie, and
me.”

Devon’s eyes were hard as they met
hers. She nodded slowly, hating the tension and anger in him,
hating the fact that she knew it was because of her, but she
couldn’t let them do this alone. She was one of the strongest
fighters, they may need her in there, and if something happened to
any of them she would never forgive herself if she hadn’t been
there to help.

“Come on,” Julian said coldly, his eyes
bright in the light of the moon as he glanced disapprovingly at
her. He hadn’t wanted her here either, but in the end it hadn’t
been his decision to make.

Cassie bit nervously on her bottom lip,
trying to calm her fear and panic at the thought of going back in
there. At the thought of being trapped within the bowels of that
hell once more. Devon came slowly toward her, his jaw clenched
tight as he held her back for a moment. “You are to stay close to
me,” he ordered gruffly.

Cassie nodded, wrapping her hand gently
around his. “I will,” she promised.

He studied her for a moment, and then
shook his head. “You should have stayed with the
others.”

She squeezed his hand. It had been
decided that it was better if they separated. If something happened
to them down there, Liam, Annabelle, Luther, and Melissa would be
needed to make sure that the monsters did not spread out of this
town. They would be needed to try and stop the flow of evil slowly
seeping out from this school, and this town.

“I’ll be fine, but I couldn’t stay with
them Devon, and you know that.”

He nodded briskly, his hand gently
caressing hers before he released her. Cassie fell into line behind
Chris. She struggled to keep herself calm and steady as they moved
toward the school, she knew that Devon would have no problem with
taking her back if he felt that she was too distressed to go on.
Julian held the other crossbow tightly, his hair a bright beacon in
the light of the moon that spilled across them. The moon’s beam ran
over the snow in a bright path that led straight to the double
doors of the school. Though it should have looked pretty, and
inspiring, it was gloomy and threatening to her.

Behind him, Dani kept her head bowed,
her shoulders hunched up in her jacket. She carried no weapons, as
none of them trusted her with them. Chris was carrying another
crossbow at the ready; his eyes wildly searched the open landscape
of the school grounds. They were vulnerable out here. There was
nowhere to hide once they stepped out of the woods, no way to keep
themselves out of sight if there were any creatures
around.

Devon stepped closer to her, his chest
pressed lightly against her back as they moved slowly forward. She
caught a glimpse of the gun he held. They had found the gun amidst
the tangled remains of the shattered countertop. It must have been
hidden in the shelves, or the register. Though it may not kill the
monsters, it would help to slow them down.

Julian reached the doors, pulling them
slowly open. Dani shuddered, taking a small step back as Julian
clicked on his flashlight, directing the beam inside. “Move,” Chris
said softly, pushing Dani slightly forward.

They crept inside, slipping into the
darkness of the school. Though she fought against it, Cassie could
not stop the shudder of dread that tore through her. Devon rested
his hand lightly on her shoulder, trying to comfort her, but she
could find no comfort in this place. Julian flashed the light over
the dark halls, its beam bounced off of the concrete
walls.

Cassie pressed tighter to Devon as the
beam revealed large streaks of blood running down the walls. Julian
hissed softly, his shoulders tightened as he tore his attention
away from the blood soaked walls. Cassie could feel the hunger
pulsating off of him, the desire to feed.